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Of Arrowe Hill
Hexedelica and the Speed of Darkness
Ouija Board Records
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Article
written by Ged M
Nov 8, 2005.
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1969 was the year of bad dreams, bad drugs, heavier music, the Manson murders, My Lai massacre and Altamont. Released in an apparently significant issue of only 69 copies, ‘Hexadelica…’ reflects that year, music and madness. It cements their reputation for twisted psychedelia, following two and a half years on from the release of their debut ‘The Spring Heel Penny Dreadful and Other Tales of Morbid Curiosity’.
It’s an appropriately dark record for Halloween time, with its Black Sabbath, Who and Syd Barratt influences, outré lyrics and dark design. It all kicks off with ‘To Make Yer Feel Better’, its grinding riff worthy of a Sabbath black mass, while ‘Positively Antediluvian’ is crammed with references to HP Lovecraft’s Cthuhlu mythos, including a quote from the mad poet, Abdul Alhazred. ‘Post Six’ is a tail-twisted ghost story, the sort of great nerve-wracker you’d get in a 70s Pan paperback collection. So far, so nocturnal.
The death side, however, is balanced by the light. ‘Cursing the Seasons’, full of Syd Barrett charm and an optimistic air, warns that “contempt for life’s a dangerous thing”. The sea-shantyish ‘Sometimes Sometimes’ sounds like Liverpool contemporaries Tramp Attack and there’s even a tender acoustic ballad (‘Louder Than Words’) worthy of Oasis!
The low numbers and strange subject matter (they rightly call it a “pop Necronomicon”) will prevent most people hearing this but the literate lyrics, psychedelic songs, taste for melody and air of magic will generate a cult for the occult.
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